Preindustrial
CO2 levels determined from air bubbles in ice
cores have been called into question by scientists from Norway
and Japan, who can expect fierce debate from others involved in
ice core analysis as discussed in New Scientist (p. 15,
Aug. 22). Their paper and one with similar concerns are listed in
this issue's [Global Climate Change Digest, vol 6, no 1,
January 1993] section on preindustrial levels of CO2
(see Prof. Pubs.--Paleoclim.).

New
evidence of rapid climate change was reported at the fall
American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco to a
standing-room only crowd. Cores from the Greenland ice cap show
extreme shifts in just a year or two between dusty, glacial
conditions and warmer weather, raising the question whether
greenhouse gases could cause the present climate to jump into a
different mode. The results and comments of various researchers
are discussed in Science News, p. 404, Dec. 12.

Model
comparison results: Interim results of the Model Evaluation
Consortium for Climate Assessment (MECCA), an international
partnership involving industry, government and academic groups
from the U.S., Japan, Italy and France, are summarized in J.
Air Waste Mgmt. Assoc., p. 1620, Dec. Among the key findings:
as CO2 increases, the corresponding rise in global
temperature decreases, apparently because of saturation of the
atmosphere's water vapor (not CO2) absorption bands.

Carbon
cycling project: The Electric Power Research Institute of
Palo Alto, California, is supporting a new project, which for the
first time will link the best terrestrial and ocean models into a
state-of-the-art global carbon model. By the end of five years,
the project is expected to significantly narrow the uncertainties
regarding the location and magnitude of carbon sinks, providing
useful results to policy makers. (From EPRI's Environ. Update,
Nov. 1992.) Contact Lou Pitelka, EPRI (415-855-2969).